Water Spirits and Dancing Ribbons

A few disciples used nets to chase after the underwater shadow "There are some here as well!" another disciple shouted. On the other side, a mass of black shadows also whooshed past. A number of narrow boats dragged nets and went over, but they didn't catch anything.

Wei Wuxian spoke, "That's strange. The shape of this shadow doesn't seem like a human. It's also sometimes long and sometimes short, sometimes large and sometimes small"

Lan Wangji saw movements on water, he had Bichen unsheathed and stabbed into the water. After a moment, it flew out of the river taking with it a crescent of water with thick strands of black hair. At that moment, the boats already floated toward the center of Biling Lake that was an extremely dark shade of green almost black.

Before Wangji can speak, Chun beats him to it "Go back immediately! Those things deliberately led us to the center of the lake"

Suddenly water immediately started to spread into the boats. Surrounding the area close to the center, a large whirlpool had formed "Uhh Chun!" Xue hesitated before mounting om his sword. The boats circled, following the whirlpool's current being sunk as they spun.

Before some disciples had the chance to mount on their swords, the water spirits smashed their boat making them fly off.

"I was careless and didn't expect that there are too many of them for us to handle" Lan Xichen said "Pair up and focus on saving the people" they all nodded and split up.

Jie Xue immediately saw someone and they started heading to him until a mass of black hair started chasing them. He managed to grab the disciple and raced off but cultivating for only a year didn't give him that much strength and controling his sword. Making them seem like surfing on water.

"Xue!" He looks up and sees Chun reaching out for him. She noticed the incoming spirits and loosen the ribbons on both her wrists, whipping them back for a bit before wrapping up on the two "Hang on!" Xu's sword was pulled of and him with the disciples were dangling by their wrist.

"Why is this thing so persistent" Chun mutters through her gritted teeth since she was now playing tug of war "Lady Jie" a disciple hovers to her and Xue forcefully pushed up the person beside him. The whole thing made Chun go out of focus and the grip of her ribbon loosened "I'll take care of him" the hovering disciple caught the one thrown at them and Chun didn't have to listen.

She immediately dived underwater to retrieve her brother and it took her a moment to see him but he was almost completely wrapped by the hair, she took out her dagger and threw it at an angle cutting off most of the hair as she tied both ribbons on Xue pulling him to her and flying up.

Both their names were called out when they emerged yet she just focused on her barely conscious brother "They tried tapping in on his resentment" she mumbles "Let's head back and get everyone immediately treated" Jiang Cheng spoke "I have to get his sword" she hands her brother to a disciple and her friends protested but she held ger hand up "I'll be quick, then we head back" she was persistent since she knows how much blood and sweat her brother put into wielding that sword.

"Then let me be the one to retrieve it, that would be much safer than you going down" Wei Wuxian reasoned but with no warning she dived and had her ribbons out again whipping agains the incoming spirits. The sword had completely sunken under and when she grabbed it her leg got wrapped 'These motherfuckers sure know how to piss people off' instead of riding her sword she used it to slash the hair and slash around her as a barrier.

Her head bobs up and down at the water surface as she was still protected by her sword. With proper timing, when her sword slashed beneath her, she stepped on it launching herself up as she faces the water and continued whipping until she mounted on her sword.

She notices that her friends were the only one left and so was the twin jade "We told them to head back first" she nods as she lightly shook her sleeves since she was completely drenched. The group travelled on their swords and evacuated Biling Lake.

"It was an Aqua Demon"

Lan Xichen sigh, "Then, this is going to be difficult"

As they heard the name "Aqua Demon", Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng understood immediately. The scariest part about Biling Lake wasn't water ghouls, but the water which flowed in it.

Because of reasons such as terrain or currents, some rivers or lakes often encountered sinking ships and drowning people. As time went on, the area of water would develop a personality. If no boats of goods or living humans sunk into the water as sacrifices, it would stir up trouble and obtain them on its own.

The people of the Caiyi Town area were all familiar with water, so sunken boats and drowning deaths rarely happened. It was impossible for a waterborne abyss to grow out of here. Now that one had appeared here, there was only one possibility—that it had been chased here from somewhere else.

Once an aqua demon emerged, it meant that the whole body of water was turned into a monster. It was extremely hard to get rid of, impossible to remove unless every single drop of water was taken out, all of the people and goods which sunk were fished up, and riverbed was exposed to strong sunlight for a few years. Nevertheless, there was a method that could solve the immediate problem at the expensive of others—to chase it to another river or pond and let it wreck somewhere else.

Lan Wangji asked, "Recently, has there been any place which suffered from a waterborne abyss?"

Lan Xichen pointed at the sky.

He was pointing at nothing else but the sun. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng looked at each other, understanding it perfectly, It's the QishanWen Sect.

Among the cultivation world, there was a countless number of sects and clans. And, among these, there was a titan which stood above the others without a doubt—the QishanWen Sect.

The Wen Clan used the sun as the motif of their clan, signifying that they could "compete with the sun for radiance, match the sun in longevity". It could be described as a titan for the fact that no matter in terms of the number of disciples, power, land, or magical tools, there were no other families which could compare to it. They are also allied with the powerful and well known Xian Clan that ruled over, Luzhou Sect. A great deal of cultivators took being a foreign disciple on both Sect as a supreme honour.

It was highly possible that the aqua demon in Caiyi Town was chased here by them. Although they knew where the aqua demon came from, everyone grew silent.

There would be no result no matter how hard they accused or criticized. First of all, the sect wouldn't admit it, and second, there wouldn't be any compensation either.

One disciple complained, "Caiyi Town will be seriously harmed with that sect having chased the aqua demon over"

If it became responsible for the problem passed to them by someone else, the GusuLan Sect would definitely face countless troubles. Lan Xichen sighed, "Let it down. Let it down. Let us go back to the town"

They boarded new boats at the crossing point and paddled toward an area of town where a lot of people gathered. Wei Wuxian put one foot on the side of his boat and as if nothing happened, he assuredly threw a series of charming winks at both sides of the path, "Sisters, how much for half a kilogram of loquats?"

His age was young, and his appearance was handsome. With such high spirits, it really was a scene of flirting. One woman lifted her hat, smiling "Young beau, you needn't pay. How 'bout I can give you one for free?"

Wei WuXian cupped his hands together, "If it's given by Sister, then I definitely want it!"

The woman put her hand into the basket, and threw him a round, golden loquat, "You needn't be such polite. It's for how handsome you look!"

"Sister looks even prettier!"

As he showed off and flirted on the side, the Xue had recovered. Both him and his sister had taken of their outer robe for it to dry "I was too hasty" he mumbles Lan Xichen kept an eye on the two as he saw a strong bond similar to him and his brother "Yes you were, you should've waited for me to catch up. You almost lost your sword and your life. If that were to happen I'd resurrect you just to give you a proper scolding" he just kept his head low making Chun sigh "Don't feel too down, remember what I always say"

"You live, you learn" both gave out a light laugh as the tension between them dispersed.

Chun started wrapping the ribbons on her when Lan Xichen spoke "That was an impressive use for your ribbon but I must ask, why did it emmitt light on the first few hits" she paused for a bit "These are ribbons are stitched with incantations just like your robes. I've been doing a trial and error for months and as you saw, there was still a big error so-" Xue sneezed cutting her off, she felt that their robes were dry so she put both around him "When we get back, bathe and change clothes" she whispers.

"I hope that satisfied your curiosity Young Master Lan" he nods, smiling at her.

Their attention was caught by Jiang Cheng's voice "You're being all flirty again?" Wei Wuxian smirked, proud of his success. Raising his head to swallow another gulp of the rice wine, he carried the jar in one hand, picked up the paddle, and charged over to Chun.

"What you did earlier was heart stopping"

"You should've seen how this idiot almost went after you if we hadn't stopped him"

"So you trusts my words Jiang Cheng?"

"You seem to know what you were doing and having someone intervene may ruin it"

"Hey! I was going to help"

"You got drowned as well"

"He what?"

"But I didn't! And who would let a lady go by herself"

"Enough with me being a female cultivator. It's getting annoying"

Wei Wuxian saw Xue's sword "That's a nice sword, no wonder she had to take it back. It suits you"

Xue's sword really represented his firm yet gentle energy "Really? I was a little hesitant to use it since I'm still training to get a hold of it" Jiang Cheng nods "You were great out there so don't worry"

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A/N:

Jie Chun's Sword: 无名 Wúmíng

Jie Xue's Sword: 夜空 Yèkōng